cannabisnews.com: Heavy Marijuana Use Damages Adolescent Brains
Heavy Marijuana Use Damages Adolescent Brains
Posted by CN Staff on November 30, 2005 at 09:47:33 PT
By Reuters
Source: Reuters
Chicago -- Adolescents who regularly smoke marijuana risk damaging a key brain pathway associated with language development and some predisposed to schizophrenia may contract the illness early, researchers said on Wednesday.Brain scans revealed microscopic abnormalities in a region of the brain that governs higher aspects of language and listening functions in adolescents who are heavy marijuana smokers.
Similar damage to the bundle of fibers, called the arcuate fasciculus, that connect the Broca's area in the left frontal lobe and the Wernicke's area in the left temporal lobe was found in the brains of marijuana smokers and schizophrenics studied."These findings suggest that in addition to interfering with normal brain development, heavy marijuana use in adolescents may also lead to an earlier onset of schizophrenia in individuals who are genetically predisposed to the disorder," said psychiatry professor Sanjiv Kumra of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.The researchers scanned the brains of 114 subjects, 26 of whom were selected because they were diagnosed schizophrenics. Of the schizophrenic group, 15 smoked marijuana.Another 15 subjects were nonschizophrenic adolescent male marijuana smokers who were matched against nonsmokers. It was those smokers whose scans showed abnormalities in the language and listening pathway.The brain's language pathway continues to develop during adolescence and is susceptible to neurotoxins introduced through marijuana use, the researchers said.A scanning technique called diffusion tensor imaging that detects and measures the motion of water molecules in the brain was used in the study, which was presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. The technique is not used to diagnose schizophrenia.Roughly 3 million Americans aged 12 and older use marijuana on a daily or almost daily basis, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The researchers said longer-term studies were needed to determine if the brain abnormalities observed in adolescents were permanent or not. Source: Reuters (Wire)Published: November 30, 2005Copyright: 2005 Reuters CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #45 posted by FoM on December 07, 2005 at 18:49:32 PT
gloovins
Thank you for understanding. It helps me not to worry. Things are fine in Ohio. We are watching TSO's Ghosts of Christmas Eve. We keep replaying it. I don't want to turn the news back on after seeing this tonight. It's 13 degrees and going down but the fire is keeping the house nice and warm and all is well.
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Comment #44 posted by gloovins on December 07, 2005 at 18:30:23 PT
FoM
Opps...sorry for that. Will post just the link in the future.Hope all is well in Ohio...
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Comment #43 posted by BoBoSprinkles on December 01, 2005 at 20:50:16 PT
Science and journalism don't get along very well
*Do the researchers point out that the arcuate fascilus hasn't been firmly implicated in anything but language? *Is damage to this language comprehension area a reliable marker for schizophrenia? *What do conduction aphasias and schizophrenia have to do with each other?*Do the teen pot smokers show any deficit in language comprehension as a result of this damage?*Is the "damage" truly underdevelopment, or is it some kind of poorly understood difference in organization that has no cognitive or behavioral effects?*Although this article doesn't mention it, another source (Newsday) reported that there was a lack of firm agreement between the side of the brain in which the "damage" occurred. Some of the pot smokers showed the lack of myelinzation in their right hemisphere. How do the researchers interpret this strange result?*Differing news sources report either the "arcuate fascilus" or the "arcuate nucleus" as the brain region in question. Which one is it? They're very different in function. All of these questions need to be answered before this "finding" means anything. Does anyone know what journal this is being published in?
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Comment #42 posted by FoM on December 01, 2005 at 12:59:23 PT
gloovins
I need to ask a favor of you. If you want to post an article please post the link instead of the whole article. Some articles must be snipped. This paper doesn't need to be snipped so it's ok but posting a link with a comment for people to check it out is always fine even with a snipped source. Thank you.
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Comment #41 posted by gloovins on December 01, 2005 at 12:44:56 PT
Thanks FoM for the hello
just saw this article...scary...Police state is on the way folks, get your front seat for the viewing of the slow, deliberate, erosion of the Bill 'o Rights....Fed Center flap draws a busload of supportBy Karen Abbott, Rocky Mountain News
December 1, 2005
Deborah Davis said Wednesday she has been overwhelmed by the support she has received via the Internet and telephone for her stance against having to show her identification while riding on an RTD bus that crosses the Federal Center in Lakewood.But she's trying to keep up with her daily routine, doing her laundry and, on Tuesday, cleaning the gutters on her home. "It keeps me normal," she said.Bill Scannell, who has publicized other challenges to government ID requirements, said the Web site he created for the Davis case, www.papersplease.org/davis,had received visits from 2.4 million individuals by about 2 p.m. Wednesday.Scannell said the Web site also has received more than 1,800 e-mails about Davis' case, and that all but about 20 have been supportive."There's become so many I can't even read them all," Davis said."I never thought this would happen," she said. "I was just trying not to show my ID because I don't have to. That's all."Davis, 50, of Arvada, refused in September to show her identification when federal police boarded RTD's No. 100 bus when it entered the Federal Center. Davis wasn't getting off there but riding through on her way to work elsewhere, as were some other passengers.Federal police removed her from the bus and handcuffed and ticketed her for refusing to show her ID. She is scheduled to appear in federal court Dec. 9.A Rocky Mountain News story about Davis on Tuesday drew about 120,000 Web site readers by late afternoon. A link to the News article appeared on The Drudge Report, a popular Web site about current events at drudgereport.com."I feel really good that people care, that they are just terribly supportive," Davis said. But she said she's been embarrassed by comparisons that have been made to civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.The most critical responses she had read, she said, were from people wondering why she didn't just comply with the police order.Davis' refusal to show her ID as a matter of principle clearly touched a nerve among News readers. Many e-mailed the newspaper expressing widely differing views.Some examples:• "Deborah N. Davis is absolutely correct and the guards at the federal building behaved as the Nazi fascists did 65 years ago in Germany, controlling 'free' movement of citizens by frequent demands of papers."• "They should have shot this (expletive deleted) first and then looked through her purse for ID."• "If she doesn't like it here, she can leave any time. In fact, from what I read in today's news, they have 4 openings in Iraq for Peace Activists. It seems like her 'donating' herself to become another kidnapee by 'The Swords of Righteousness Brigade' would be a cause she might be worthy of."• "Good for her. This country is becoming more and more a police state!!!! Well done!!"
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Comment #40 posted by FoM on December 01, 2005 at 09:19:43 PT
gloovins
I just wanted to say Hi back at you.
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Comment #39 posted by jared3602 on December 01, 2005 at 09:12:11 PT
schizophrenia
This tactic was used in the UK when they where rescheduling cannabis. But it was shown to even affect those people in different ways. Some people with schizophrenia had no problems using canabis (it actually helped them) other people would act really different when they used it. But one must look at the postive side of this. Because it shows the symptoms earlier in people predisposed to schizophrenia they would be able to get help with their problems earlier.In every study done it does NOT cause schizophrenia.
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Comment #38 posted by billos on December 01, 2005 at 03:59:08 PT
I am seeing MSM
here on the east coast anyway, is really pumping this story out. Amazing morons.
There is a new addiction being heard loudly too:
Internet addicton.
Maybe Congress will put the internet in Shedule I
by next year.
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Comment #37 posted by gloovins on December 01, 2005 at 01:08:41 PT
more on this here
http://www.jeffreysjourney.com/Let's just be glad he is not Tom Cruise & Katie Holms kid, you know, those Scientologists wouldn't give him Ritlin OR cannabis...I personally believe that Tom & Katie are aliens, myself.
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Comment #36 posted by gloovins on December 01, 2005 at 00:57:41 PT
Hi everyone....
I have a question, does anyone remember this article :http://cannabisnews.com/news/20/thread20243.shtmlHow do you think this little guy works into the gov't/big pharm's scheme? Cannabis can help some children. Fact. Mainstream media and the government count on the masses apathy & ignorance.They (the US government) WILL let you get as drunk (until death, hell who cares?) as you like - just stay indoors. Lovin' the USA a little more every day...no?
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Comment #35 posted by Hope on November 30, 2005 at 22:23:07 PT
Prohibition isn't about the children.
It's only for and about the prohibitionists.As many or more children have been hurt by this prohibition as have adults.Prohibition is about the people who get attention and monetary reward one way or another from prohibition and they love it and they don't want it to end. They will do anything, including prevarication, manipulation, and lieing outright to protect their precious prohibition.Prohibition protects no one. It hurts everyone, including the prohibitionists, sooner or later.
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Comment #34 posted by FoM on November 30, 2005 at 20:53:23 PT
What About The Children
Children are a blessing. Children need love and guidance. Children need their parents to teach them about values and the downfalls that life can throw their way. I do not tell my friends how to raise their children or grandchildren. That isn't my right or responsibility. The government is involved in families lives. Many adults do not have children but the laws also impose on their lives because of what about the children.
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Comment #33 posted by runderwo on November 30, 2005 at 20:33:02 PT
well
I don't place too much faith in "abnormalities" detected by a brain scan. And there is no causal mechanism demonstrated, just an assumed causation from correlation of the "abnormalities" with cannabis users. And what if the "abnormalities" are actually beneficial in some way? There is no way to look at an "abnormality" and determine that is is somehow bad without some kind of empirical test.Anyway, this has no implication for cannabis law. Just watch for the mainstream media to lap this up and automatically draw the conclusion that tougher cannabis laws for adults are needed in order to protect the children. When in reality, legalization and regulation is what we need if cannabis is indeed harmful to children, since prohibition is a demonstrable failure at reducing availability to youths.
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Comment #32 posted by ekim on November 30, 2005 at 19:28:56 PT
schizophrenia Billos hello
i dont remember when i first learned of pergatory (sic) but that was one of my first wake up calls.to have to sign on to the belief that those that will never hear and have access to debate shall be kept from seeing the face.gee i was way small but then and there i felt that the face was for everyone like the earth itself ---who would ban someone.to be aware of certain facts on the treatment of fellow riders on this ship --is put in the same bag as the dred word== skitsoid.`many a child has felt that same sting. nomatter what name given to the event. to feel that someone is being threatned for no good reason, and to make up a sickness to use against the rider must be debated. but where ---here - ok we want the best for those that are comming and here --- the truth about the attempt to enileate Cannabis from this ship must for the sake of their survivel be written of./
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Comment #31 posted by FoM on November 30, 2005 at 18:36:52 PT
Rainbow
I participated in that survey. I don't know though if the powers that be have given it any thought. If a government empowered agency that has a say in changing the laws on Cannabis did a survey and promised to abide by the rules that they would set up maybe that could make a really big impact. I know it's just wishful thinking on my part but it could happen someday maybe.
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Comment #30 posted by Rainbow on November 30, 2005 at 17:59:35 PT
FoM re: comment 15
Mitch Earlywine (SP) did the study you are talking about. He has used the results in several publications and articles.I remember when he was asking for survey participants. It was a few years back but it would be neat for him to do a comparative study to see if things have changed. That would be interesting for sure.Cheers,
Rainbow
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Comment #29 posted by siege on November 30, 2005 at 17:56:07 PT
TRADE
This can open the door for Coca Tea in England and give Bolivia an income as well...
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Comment #28 posted by mayan on November 30, 2005 at 17:48:03 PT
Rehab & Substance Abuse
Could it be that the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and it's affiliates have a vested interest in maintaining the current prohibition of cannabis?Affiliated Institutions and Clinical Programs:
http://www.aecom.yu.edu/home/affiliates.asp
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Comment #27 posted by siege on November 30, 2005 at 17:43:15 PT
the rest of the story
What will happin with Australia, ,canada, Ireland, Scotland this could be of considerable size more then one thinks...
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Comment #26 posted by siege on November 30, 2005 at 17:28:12 PT
not just cannabis;
The draft threshold is 4 ounces of cannabis, 10 ecstasy tablets or 7 grams of heroin or crack cocaine.
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Comment #25 posted by siege on November 30, 2005 at 17:20:39 PT
black market
and it could hurt the Black market as well.
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Comment #24 posted by siege on November 30, 2005 at 17:18:26 PT
FoM not sure
I would say that it is still Illegal!,
but you Play the game we will not hurt you.
Amsterdam, Netherlands type thing
they can't just make it Legale they have to turn a blind eye to it. the US would be up set.
after a few years then it will be Legale or it will not be a big thing Netherlands...
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Comment #23 posted by FoM on November 30, 2005 at 17:10:06 PT
What Actually Is A Normal Teenager?
When I think of a teenager I think of them as skitzy. I'm not being mean or anything just trying to make a point. Teenagers bounce from one emotion to another. They can be happy and laughing one minute and angry and defiant the next. How could any teenagers be really analyzed correctly since they have such natural mood swings?
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on November 30, 2005 at 16:31:56 PT
Siege
I used a related article and named you Newshawk. Thanks. I wonder what it really means? Does it mean people in the UK can have 4 ounces and it's OK? That would be great.http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21344.shtml
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Comment #21 posted by siege on November 30, 2005 at 16:04:01 PT
'Dealing' threshold will not help fight against dr
PRESS RELEASE
Gillan: 'Dealing' threshold will not help fight against drugs
Conservatives have criticised Government plans to set a threshold at which the amount of drugs a person is carrying goes from personal possession to dealing. The draft threshold is 4 ounces of cannabis, 10 ecstasy tablets or 7 grams of heroin or crack cocaine.
Commenting, Shadow Home Affairs Minister Cheryl Gillan said:http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.press.release.page&obj_id=126615
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Comment #20 posted by siege on November 30, 2005 at 15:58:31 PT
New drugs limits to allow 500 'joints' for persona
New drugs limits to allow 500 'joints' for personal usePeople caught by police with up to 500 cannabis joints on them are likely to escape drug dealing charges under new Home Office proposals.
A joint being passed on
4oz of cannabis is enough to roll about 512 'joints'Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, revealed the plans to set a "threshold" for the amount of drugs an individual can claim is their own personal "stash".Setting a formal limit will affect how many people can be prosecuted as drug dealers and how many escape with lesser charges.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/30/udrugs.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/11/30/ixportaltop.html
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Comment #19 posted by Jim Lunsford on November 30, 2005 at 15:36:20 PT
Actually....
When this story first came out, the report stated that it was possible the teens using Cannabis were self-medicating. The use and the condition are not necessarily connected in the manner seen. It is quite possible that Cannabis is being utilized by the mind to heal itself. We do that all the time. Peace, JimRev Jim LunsfordFirst Cannabist ChurchThoughts: Our own, and in our complete control
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Comment #18 posted by Toker00 on November 30, 2005 at 15:34:06 PT
This PROVES nothing.
Blah, blah, blah...MAY contract the illness early,...blah, blah, blah.Enough for any anti to immediately become a Believer. "These findings suggest...No, ONDCP suggests you SUGGEST for propaganda purposes, these (suggested) findings.Most of the "heavy" users, (and I doubt there are really that many teeny boppers who can afford to be a "heavy" cannabis user), smoke cigarettes, too. Could the neurotoxins be from the tobacco smoke? Just curious. And were the non-cannabis smokers "tobacco" free? I wonder. Because I don't think cannabis itself is toxic, but actually protects the neurotransmitters.From FoM's article:...It is also important to mention that at this time, DTI and MRI are not diagnostic means for schizophrenia patients or marijuana smokers.I got a problem with this. Would it also be important to mention, at this time, that you have proved nothing, except yourselves to be the "Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York" who bends from pressure from DEA, ONDCP, etc., etc., to keep spewing propaganda about Cannabis? They are saying: "We want you to believe this though we know we can't prove it. But we will suggest it so we can keep the lid on Cannabis Liberalization. Those damn Hippies make our job of telling believable lies harder and harder. Wage peace on war. END CANNABIS PROHIBITION NOW!
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Comment #17 posted by mars on November 30, 2005 at 15:29:51 PT:
re: A Fair Study
good point FoM.. let's start with Carl Sagan...
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Comment #16 posted by charmed quark on November 30, 2005 at 15:27:01 PT
Daily users are an unusual subpopulation
As mentioned earlier, adolescents who are daily users are a very atypical subpopulation. Once again, assuming the imaging techniques are valid, correlation does not prove causation.There may be an underlying brain difference or disorder that makes certain subgroups more likely to be daily users, perhaps as a form of self-medication. Additionally, most heavy users of cannabis also use other drugs, especially alchohol. Did the study try to eliminate these confounders?The schizophrenic link has been knocked around for a while. It's possible there is a slight link to heavy cannabis users developing it earlier than they would have if they didn't use it. Of course, this could be another case of the early developers using cannabis to self medicate. It's hard to tell the cart from the horse You'd need a twin study to really resolve this - maybe one has been done. And, of course, there is no indication that it causes schizophrenia, as the rate is pretty consistent worldwide regardless of any factor.
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on November 30, 2005 at 15:07:31 PT
A Fair Study
Someone or some organization important in the government should ask people who have used Cannabis over many years certain questions and publish the results and use the published results to change the current laws. It is so simple to me. They never ask people that can answer honestly.
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Comment #14 posted by dongenero on November 30, 2005 at 14:54:53 PT
or.......
HealthDay News -- When it comes to the controversy surrounding medical marijuana, an international team of researchers is busy stirring the pot by releasing findings that suggest the drug helps promote brain cell growth while treating mood disorders.
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Comment #13 posted by Celaya on November 30, 2005 at 14:50:52 PT
More Smoke And Mirrors
That significant brain language development takes place in the teenage years is debatable, and the caveat thrown in at the end stating it is not known if the abnomalities are permanent or not makes the study even more nebulous. Throwing in data on schizophrenia clouds the issue to a huge degree as well. The big question is how much would heavy alcohol use affect adolescent development. My guess is by a much greater and permanent degree. And what is the point of citing the numbers of Americans 12 and older who use marijuana daily? 12 to 16 might be relevant, but including adults betrays a cynical attempt to pump the numbers for the relevance of this study. These points must be taken into account as we will undoubtedly see this study cited as support for marijuana prohibition.
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Comment #12 posted by billos on November 30, 2005 at 14:31:20 PT
Ekim?
Why did you mention the wizzinator being a felony to possess? I failed to see your link???
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Comment #11 posted by ekim on November 30, 2005 at 14:17:59 PT
is a wizanator a felony just to have
i agree E. what have these unjust laws created in our brains.
how are we damaged by just waiting for the hammer to fall/
http://www.leap.cc/events
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Comment #10 posted by siege on November 30, 2005 at 14:00:20 PT
still flawed
psychiatry professor Sanjiv Kumra; Where did your base line Start? did you have subjects from 1920 or 1937 to work with in this, That had Hemp to eat, ((hemp missing link)) anything before 2005. If your studys only have 2003 to 2005 you can not do a complete study of the science. It just shows the second out come of the study. So it is one sided study, or a government study that is flawed any way you look at it.
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Comment #9 posted by E_Johnson on November 30, 2005 at 12:56:49 PT
How did they control for PTSD and dissociation?
The teens most likely to be heavy users of marijuana are probably the ones who are suffering from the same kinds of problems that drive combat veterans and people in active combat to use it.Post traumatic stress and dissociation are associated with damage to the brain especially to the brains of young people.So how did they know for sure that this is not just another episode of confusing causation with correlation?I know that most people in science come from sheletered upper middle class backgrounds and don't really understand that a vast percentage of young people in this country are in effect "walking wounded" from the damages of things like domestic violence and or sexual exploitation.I was the walking wounded as an adolescent. I was so post traumatic I could not sleep at night, only in the daytime. And I was so dissociative it was hard to have a conversation with me because I'd blank out in the middle and lose my whole sense of self completely and just stare off into space.It sure wasn't pot that did that -- I was that way before I ever tried pot, and I used pot to relieve my disociation -- but I can well imagine, especially given the sheltered, pampered backgrounds of many people in science-- that a scientist working for the government might have argued that marijuana did this to me.The missing link in the study of adolescent marijuana use is PTSD. PTSD and dissociation. I'll bet that teens who are the heavist users are ones whose brains were fried at home by violent or sexually abusive adults living in their home under the name "family".This subject is never going to be understood properly unless drug researchers are willing to recognize that about a quarter of the young people in this country have been ireperably damaged by their home life, and account for this fact when they do their research.But it's very politically dangerous to admit that a large fraction of American parents are toxic to their own children.Since it's the parents and not their victims who vote.
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Comment #8 posted by PainWithNoInsurance on November 30, 2005 at 12:43:35 PT
Merit or Not
This study does not take into consideration the possibility that these conditions where already there and the teens where just born with them. I believe there is a reason for everything and a reason human beings seek drugs and alcohol. I know many people who absolutly cannot start their day without a buzz of coffee. I also know many people who don't drink coffee at all. It is the same with alcohol, some people drink it and some don't. I think the people who drink it are drinking because they are seeking to satify something that is not correct in their lives (physically or Mentally) and the same with caffeine. Even if this study where absolutely true, it would not justify the punishment the government has put on people for using cannabis.I think a study should be done to find out why some politicians have such cruel minds and some don't because cruelty is not normal human activity. This study would need to be done with more subjects and a "before and after" use of cannabis before I would give it merit.If my life where absolutely perfect, I would not want any caffeine, alcohol, prescription drugs, or illicit drugs.
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on November 30, 2005 at 10:44:34 PT
Something to remember...
It hasn't been that long in the scheme of things, since potatoes and tomatoes were said, by supposedly those in the know, to be deadly poisonous.
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on November 30, 2005 at 10:38:08 PT
Guess they didn't know about all
those deformed by pollution frog's parents sitting on their lilly pads toking joints that would eventually show up.
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on November 30, 2005 at 10:33:08 PT
Remember the "science"
that told us it turned the brain of twenty somethings into the brains of ninety somethings? Or the one about the boy's brain that disintegrated like ash at an autopsy because of his marijuana use? Or the "science" that says it's use will give men big female breasts and women excess hair? Mustn't forget the "scientists" that told us it would scramble user's chromosones and deform their offspring. (They probably foresaw the problems from all the dangerous but profitable herbicides, insecticides, and pollutions on people and were setting up cannabis and certain "forbidden" drug use to take the blame.) Of course, we mustn't forget Anslinger's "scientist" who testified cannabis turned him into a bat. Furthermore, I think I'm seeing another pattern being developed here. The pharms are working on real cannabis is "bad bad bad" while synthetic compounds copying certain cannabinoids are "good good good".Makes me want to cuss.
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Comment #4 posted by runruff on November 30, 2005 at 10:13:52 PT:
Here we go again, Jabber, jabber, jabber....
What does prescription drugs do to the adolecent brain? What does the legal drug alcohol do to the adolecent brain. What does TV, video games, refined sugar, do to the adolescent brain?
I suggest that any parent that doesn't want their kids involved in these things teach them to abstain. It ain't my yob man! And neither does this finding if it has any validity have any detemination on my rights as a free adult to choose or anyone to choose cannabis for recreation or cannabis as a medicine. If we are complaining about child rearing problems here then this is a situation best delt with by the childs family not the prohibition of my right to choose what is best for me.
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Comment #3 posted by potpal on November 30, 2005 at 10:11:09 PT
here we go again
Main stream media has no qualms jumping on a story planted like this one. Harry lives.Such bullsh*t.Wonder what 'heavy use' of sugar does to the adolecent brain? Have another 20oz coke, kids.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on November 30, 2005 at 10:03:36 PT
Related Article from PRNewswire
Press Release Source: Radiological Society of North America Imaging Shows Similarities in Brains of Marijuana Smokers, SchizophrenicsWednesday November 30, 2005CHICAGO, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Heavy use of marijuana may put adolescents who are genetically predisposed to schizophrenia at greater risk of developing the brain disorder, according to research presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).Using a sophisticated brain imaging technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), researchers at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York, studied the brains of groups of adolescents: healthy, non-drug users; heavy marijuana smokers (daily use for at least one year); and schizophrenic patients. Unlike magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which provides a static picture of brain structures, DTI detects and measures the motion of water molecules in the brain, which can reveal microscopic abnormalities.Manzar Ashtari, Ph.D., Sanjiv Kumra, M.D., and colleagues used DTI to examine the arcuate fasciculus, a bundle of fibers connecting the Broca's area in the left frontal lobe and the Wernicke's area in the left temporal lobe of the brain. The investigators found that repeated exposure to marijuana was related to abnormalities in the development of this fiber pathway, which is associated with the higher aspects of language and auditory functions."Because this language/auditory pathway continues to develop during adolescence, it is most susceptible to the neurotoxins introduced into the body through marijuana use," explained Dr. Ashtari, associate professor of radiology and psychiatry at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine.In the study, DTI was performed on 12 healthy, early adolescent males compared with 12 late adolescent males to show normal human brain development; 11 schizophrenic patients compared with 17 matched controls; 15 schizophrenic patients who smoke marijuana compared with 17 matched controls; and 15 marijuana smokers compared with 15 matched non-drug users. The scans revealed no abnormal developmental changes in the language pathway in the healthy adolescents, but showed abnormalities in both the marijuana users and schizophrenic patients."These findings suggest that in addition to interfering with normal brain development, heavy marijuana use in adolescents may also lead to an earlier onset of schizophrenia in individuals who are genetically predisposed to the disorder," said co-principal-investigator Sanjiv Kumra, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, approximately 3.1 million Americans age 12 and older use marijuana on a daily or almost daily basis. In 2004, 5.6 percent of 12th graders reported daily use of marijuana.Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe and disabling brain disorder that affects about one percent of the entire population. Although the causes of the disease have not been determined, it is believed to result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors.Drs. Ashtari and Kumra said longitudinal studies are needed to determine whether these changes in the brain are permanent or change over time. It is also important to mention that at this time, DTI and MRI are not diagnostic means for schizophrenia patients or marijuana smokers.Co-authors are Jinghui Wu, B.S., Kelly Cervellione, M.A., John Kane, M.D., Philip Szeszko, Ph.D., and Babak Ardekani, Ph.D.RSNA is an association of more than 38,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists committed to promoting excellence in radiology through education and by fostering research, with the ultimate goal of improving patient care. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. AT A GLANCE -- Researchers using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) have found similar
abnormalities in the brains of adolescents who are daily marijuana
users and adolescents with schizophrenia. -- The abnormalities were found in a part of the brain still developing
during adolescence that is associated with the higher aspects of
language and auditory functions. -- The findings also suggest that heavy use of marijuana may lead to
earlier onset of schizophrenia in adolescents who are genetically
predisposed to the disorder.Source: Radiological Society of North Americahttp://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051130/cgw007a.html?.v=2
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Comment #1 posted by dongenero on November 30, 2005 at 09:55:28 PT
I'll see your........
Albert Einstein College of Medicine findings and raise you one...............neuroprotective finding.An earlier study published in the Journal of Neuroscience showed that synthetic cannabinoids, the chemicals in marijuana, can reduce inflammation in the brain and may protect it from the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease.
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